The Mandate team has released a new update on their status. I won't cover what they did, but will instead be summing up for the sake of people who don't read beneath the surface of update releases. So read this AFTER you read the Kickstarter update.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1964463742/the-mandate/posts/1615111?ref=backer_project_update

1. The Mandate kickstarter advertised big on the fact that the team creating The Mandate was a bunch of people in constant communication around the world and how the unique ability to develop in such a way was made possible by today's technology. It seems designing a game this way turned into a detriment because of time zones and the limits of telephone and skype interactions to convey ideas and get instant feedback on decisions.

This almost certainly led to more than a few dead ends with the workmanship of excellent and creative people who were isolated from one another because of their different geographical locations. As such, time, effort, AND MONEY were wasted because people couldn't get together in a room and look at a computer screen beside one another. As such, the team has now opened an office and moved their people to one city to work on the project, as this will actually increase efficiency and their use of funds.

Let this be a lesson to ALL other Kickstarters. Having a bunch of people working together around the world is a wonderful concept, but it doesn't pan out in reality. It's best for people who are working togther to be working TOGETHER, because all those little "Huh, is it suppose to be like this" moments that are not worth picking up a phone to discuss individually are things that will get in the way of the game in a big way once you're deep in development.

So all you Kickstarters, always look into budget real estate offices when starting a Kickstart, and include that into your funding needs.

2. The creators have made the "Baseline" for start systems. Or more appropriately, "Star Clusters." A Baseline is the Zero Point for randomization, a core measurement by which all following readings are compared to. This means two things to us.

First, the Peri Team have completed building the FOUNDATION for their random galaxy generator, and found the happy mean for all the randomness that their program will be making. That is VERY good news, as from here on out in the creation of their generator, they only need to experiment with the size, density, upper scale of population, and lower scale of population for their program. Which will take a LOT of playtesting, with I very much hope the Alpha and Beta Mandate Backers will take on, and give conscructive feedback to the Peri Team about so it can be fine tuned.

There is nothing more useful than play testing, and feedback about what is fun and what is not. I was once called in to playtest Supreme Commander at THQ, and I told them flat out, "There is no sound effect to confirm any orders I give. So I end up issuing the same orders two or tree times. That's not fun, you need a sound there." They ignored that, though, and published without addressing that concern. One part of the underlying reason the company went out of business.

The second thing that this means is that we are not navigating the world of The Mandate like previous space 4X games, were every SYSTEM is a star with planets orbiting it, and then you warp to the next system which is the same. In The Mandate, it appears that you have Star Clusters, which are small groups of stars with planets that you can reach without having to warp to every single one. This means that every star is NOT some isolated place, but part of it's own little community of stars and worlds. What this means for battles, trade, and navigation, I am optimistic even against my own better judgement. This is just a guess, mind you, and I may very well be wrong.

3. Missions. They're being implemented, both from people outside and inside your crews. I don't care about the missions from outsiders, as those people don't evolve with new ranks, skills, and potentially attaining scars should they very nearly be killed in battles. Or, indeed, the Crew who ASSIGN missions very well COULD be killed in battles before you complete their missions, which are NOT "collect 7 space bear asses," Peri claim, but designed to be glimpses into the world that is The Mandate.

This means that instead of a Lore system, or an Index, or a Library that you hunt for entries in or is just provided like a school text book that you can look into and read for a few hours because WHO THE HELL DOES THAT INSTEAD OF PLAY THE GAME?! No! Peri is making the insignificant finer details of the game world explained through the (randomly generated) little people who make your ships operate. That is interesting AND smart! Building the world not by forcing plot down our throats, but by leaving little bits that pop up at random through your very own people you care about because if you don't, WHOOPS they might die. It makes this background lore and first hand experiencing of the World Building more important than it otherwise would be. Bravo! Making Lore both important and unimportant at the same time!

It also means that it is another means of character development for the Officers and Crew. Since The Mandate is being made Modible, that means the fans will be able to insert EVEN MORE content for Crew Missions, perhaps even Romance Options as a section of the play audience long for. MODDERS, START YOUR (graphic) ENGINES!

Also, Events (random or not so random things that just plain happen to you) are being tied together with Missions. Which means that some of your crew or officers may develop opinions and prejudices that will cause them to say to you, "You know what captain, I'd be happy if you resoved it this way." For instance, say there was an asteroid heading for a populated Osmandi world and you had a Romanov First Officer you highly value, but he's a bigot towards those who purposely graft metal into their flesh (which is what the Osmandi do), and he says, "It's not worth wasting our resources to prevent this rock from landing on a world of metal men. For all we know it won't even do any lasting damage. We are at war, and our ships are better used elsewhere."

And your First Officer may very well be right! And you have to decide what you will be doing with the added conflict that is the lasting opinions of your crew!

4. Exploration is going to use the "Hidden Treasure" means of having side events or resources appear by using Scanners. This is POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS.

In Mass Effect, a lot of the game was zooming around and scanning worlds until something went PING. That was just a collectable hunt and annoying. It was that thing you do EVERY TIME you enter a system for the first time, and then NEVER AGAIN. It was a chore. Because these were things you could only find once and then you just moved on.

NOW! If the rate of discovery was based on the QUALITY of your Sesonrs being used, and there were different events and objects found based on the quality of the sensors, that would be interesting! There would be a reason to invest in Sensors then. And a reason to return to old sectors with Scout Ships retrofitted with upgraded sensors every now and again to go hunting for these hidden events. It becomes a scavenger hunt instead of a chore!

And have NEW hidden events appear from time to time that people can stumble onto. Like space ♥♥♥♥♥ camps. Or new pirate hideouts. Or the carcass of a space lifeform that recently passed away and can be used for research or a ship wide BBQ. The galaxy is a large place, and new things will naturally be happening all the time.



ALL IN ALL, it's a very reassuring update. The team at Peri have figured out what is not working and have addressed the issues, both inside and outside their game. And it's looking like the Test Players who bought that tier in the Kickstarter, or after at Peri's store, will be getting their hands on the first iteration of the game in 3 or so months. So look forward to it, folks.

Double Fine is now gathering funds for the creation of Psychonauts 2, and have gathered the people, all the people, including the voice actors, who were instrumental in making the first one.

They're just asking for 3.3 million dollars to do it. ...Ehem.

Well, it's what they raised for Broken Age, so that's where they decided to start, on top of backing it themselves, and getting a mysterious investor to help with the REAL super huge amount they need.

They're off to a strong start, having raised over 650,000 already in the first 12 hours of their campaign. So chances are they'll fund it, if people know about it. But since it's being funded through Fig and not Kickstarter, that may require a bit of legwork to spread awareness.

Check it out here: https://www.fig.co/campaigns/psychonauts-2

And orient yourself with how Fig works, since it has different reward possibilities to Kickstarter, and spread the news further if you are a Psychonauts fan yourself. Grass roots people.

...Hey, don't look at me like that, I did my part by telling all of you guys.

If there is anyone who Backed The Mandate and failed to play Divinity: Original Sin, rectify that. Go play it right now, and then see how good it is, not just as a game but as a platform that provides a series of systems one can use to d*** around with the whold as a whole.

D:OS2 will be even MORE of that d***ery. And you can abuse your friends with said d***ery to no end as it's also a muliplayer game as well as single player. It's incredibly innovative HOW it's done and I won't address it here. I'll just say you can kill everyone, fulfilling YOUR quest objectives while blocking everyone elses, then you can kill their GHOSTS, and STILL find ways to complete the game. All while framing your party members for robbery and murder, without sealing off the game's content.

Or, you can choose NOT to do any of that.

Look, D:OS2 is gonna be a great game. Backing now will make it even greater. Check it out.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin-2

All daddy wants for Christmas is the Hall of Whispers...

Interplay is making a new Bard's Tale game, gearing it up now that their concept work guys have finished on Torment and are without any work to do in order to keep from having to lay anyone off. (Practical business, people, so don't accuse them of trying to double dip in the Kickstarter pool.)

Most people don't know about The Bard's Tale series, except perhaps the hack and slash comedic toned stand alone game that has recently ported onto mobile gaming App stores. I never played the original series myself, but it seems pretty dang sweet. For the first impression for anyone who has NOT looked into The Bard's Tale EVER, the closest analogy would be the Etrian Odyssey games, which i themselves are throwbacks to the age of dungeon explorers like The Bard's Tale games.

Long and short, magical ♥♥♥♥ is going down in the area around a Scottish city that got built OVER the ruins of a scottish city of the same name which was lost because magical ♥♥♥♥ went down in hardcore density. And now, gerations after the initial games, new adventurers form a party and go searching for certain doom, and maybe some profit.

Here is the link, and know that I'm backing my own money on these guys. Their track record speaks for themselves, so you'll get a complete game out of it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/the-bards-tale-iv

Hurry, though. Only 4 days to go!

The second game is Red Ash, being made by Inafune and company who are gearing this up now that ALL work on getting Mighty Number 9 out the door is taken care of. So once again, they are getting their creative teams into action now that their business calenders are clear. The idea behind the game itself is to create an explorable game world that FEELS like an anime show.

The basic story and setting seems to reflect the scoundrelish and energetic nature of Coyote Ragtime Show. (No space ships though, but there IS a BIG SCORE just over the horizon.)

The art style and color tones used are very remeniscent of FLCL, with body shapes meant to reflect characters instead of being standardized into "Human Shape."

The gameplay is set to be 3rd person Free Roaming Action Shooter w/ optional dungeon delving, all with the high energy of an episode of an anime.

Now, I don't think anyone who has placed their trust in Inafune, father of the Blue Bomber, will go wrong with Red Ash. When it comes to men who create beloved industry standards that survived 30 years of aging AND MORE, lightning does strike twice and it's an investment worth your time, money, and care.

Link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mightyno9/red-ash-the-indelible-legend

EDIT:
And you know what, Red Ash is SO MUCH determined to be as close to an anime feeling in it's free-exploration existence that Comcept has teamed up with Studio 4C to make a Red Ash ANIME that is ALSO being Kickstarted, and are working back and forth together to get the feeling just right across both media platforms.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mightyno9/red-ash-magicicada-by-studio4c

We live in interesting times.

The man responsible for the creation of Symphony of the Night which reinvented the structure of Castlevania into what we now know it to be is Kickstarting a new series with the same base structure of his infamous creation with a new IP.

Now, Igarashi already had his funding before he got the Kickstarter underway from private investors. So why Kickstart at all?

Because the investors required Igarashi to proove, via Kickstarter, that we gamers even wanted the game in the first place. The gaming public responded by pledging 2.5 times the required Kickstarter amount in one day. Igarashi didn't even have time to issue an update before ALL his revealed stretch goals were met and exceeded.

The game is going to be made. The only question is if my fellow Mandate Backers want in on the ground floor or not.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night